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Tips & Tricks

When using COMSOL Multiphysics on a Floating Network License, it is possible to use the Client-Server mode of operation to access remote computing resources for solving large models, while still using the graphics card on a local machine to display graphics. This can have some significant advantages, so let’s look at Client-Server mode in more detail.

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From an installation point of view, the main difference between a COMSOL CPU-Locked Single User (CPU) and Floating Network License (FNL) is how they are installed and managed. However, the FNL not only offers every single benefit of a CPU license, but also enables several additional features while greatly enhancing your workflow, allowing COMSOL Multiphysics to scale with your company’s growth.

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Integration is one of the most important mathematical tools, especially for numerical simulations. Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) are usually derived from integral balance equations, for example. Once a PDE needs to be solved numerically, integration most often plays an important role, too. This blog post gives an overview of the integration methods available in the COMSOL software and shows you how you can use them.

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The COMSOL Optimization Module includes both gradient-based and gradient-free optimization techniques. Whereas the gradient-based optimization method can compute an exact analytic derivative of an objective function and any associated constraint functions, it does require these functions to be smooth and differentiable. In this blog post, we examine the use of the gradient-free optimizer, which can consider objective function and constraints that are not differentiable or smooth. The dimensions of a spinning wheel are optimized to reduce the mass while maintaining […]

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Curvilinear coordinates are a coordinate system where the coordinate lines may be curved. The new user interface for automatic computation of curvilinear coordinates is a very practical addition to version 4.3b for those working with anisotropic materials in free-form CAD designs. If you have a generic bent shape and try to apply the usual coordinate systems like Cartesian, cylindrical, or spherical, you are out of luck. Curvilinear coordinates are needed to smoothly follow the design, which typically has no mathematical […]

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Some structural applications involve thin or high aspect ratio structures sandwiched between other relatively low aspect ratio structures. For example, if a piezoelectric transducer is glued on the surface of a mechanical system, the thickness of the adhesive layer is very small in comparison to the two structures it glues together. Numerical modeling of such a thin layer in two or three dimensions requires resolving it with an appropriate finite element mesh. This can result in a large concentration of […]

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There is sometimes a need to include data from other simulation packages into a COMSOL Multiphysics model. There are a variety of ways in which this can be done, but one of the easiest approaches is to read in the point cloud data via a spreadsheet format text file. In this blog post, we walk through the steps of reading in such data, and using it in a COMSOL model.

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For a transient simulation, imagine if you could simply insert a virtual sensor in a model at a certain location and then monitor the evolution of a field value over time while solving. In COMSOL Multiphysics you can do just that by using Probes. You define a probe in the Model Builder tree right under the Model Definitions node. Measuring the value at a point is not the only thing you can do with probes, but in this blog post […]

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Oftentimes when you are working with devices with internal fluid flow, the imported CAD design represents the vessel material. The inside is plainly void. This may leave you clueless since it is inside where you want to create a volume mesh for the flow equations. How can you solve this meshing problem in COMSOL?

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I give a lot of COMSOL workshops — about 20 so far this year. These are great events and they include hands-on minicourses, which allow me to connect with the audience. One topic that I often spend a few minutes on might surprise you: icons. The icons, especially those found at the nodes in the Model Builder, are packed with useful information. They’re easy to miss because they’re small, but knowing what they mean can be a big help.

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It has been some time since we’ve had the “Tips & Tricks” column in COMSOL News. Many people have asked me for tips on how to use COMSOL Multiphysics, so I figured I would share some with you here on the blog. The first in this new series of tips and tricks explains how you can create high-resolution images of COMSOL models.